Jerry Falwell Jr. Compares Donald Trump to King David, Talks About Watching Elton John Together on Private Jet

With presidential campaigning in full force, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of what heralds itself as the world’s largest Christian university, is defending and cozying up to the lead contender on the Republican ticket, recently recalling to the university newspaper how he and Trump watched an Elton John concert together on the billionaire’s private jet—a man whose sins he dismissed by comparison to God’s appointment of King David.

As previously reported, Falwell has repeatedly sought to assure the American people of the mud-slinging, foul-mouthed candidate’s Christianity, pointing to the candidate’s good deeds as being the “fruit” that Jesus spoke of that characterizes a man who is born again.

“I’ve seen his generosity to strangers, to his employees, his warm relationship with his children,” he said on CNN’s “Legal View With Ashleigh Banfield” last month. “I’m convinced he’s a Christian. I believe he has faith in Jesus Christ.”

“I’ve had conversations with him just within the past few weeks about his faith, and I have no doubts he is a man of faith and he’s a Christian,” Falwell also stated on Fox’s “Hannity.”

“Matthew 7:16 tells us that ‘By your fruits you shall know them.’ Donald Trump’s life has borne fruit,” he told students during Trump’s appearance at Liberty University in January. “Fruit that has provided jobs to multitudes of people, in addition to the many he has helped with his generosity.”

“In my opinion, Mr. Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the Great Commandment,” Falwell declared.

In a recent interview with the Liberty University newspaper, the Liberty Champion, Falwell explained his endorsement of Trump, and recalled the time he spent with the presidential candidate on the campaign trail in Iowa—including on his 757 jet, where the two watched an Elton John concert together.

“He’s got this big living room with this big screen TV. He’s got a master bedroom he showed us,” he remembered. “Then he let my son and his wife actually sit in the cockpit to take off because my son’s a pilot. Then we sat there with him the whole time, just across the table.”

“[W]e ate cheeseburgers. Then he put on a concert,” Falwell said. “He found out that when I grew up in the 70s, I was an Elton John fan. So, he put the concert on the big screen.”

As previously reported, Trump, who states that he personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, celebrated Elton John’s “marriage” to his same-sex partner in 2005.

“I know both of them and they get along wonderfully. It’s a marriage that’s going to work,” he wrote on his Trump University blog. “In any event, I’m very happy for them. If two people dig each other, they dig each other. Good luck, Elton. Good luck, David. Have a great life.”

In Falwell’s interview with the university newspaper, he asserted that Christians shouldn’t be concerned about a candidate’s sinful lifestyle as much as the need to “save the country.”

“Jesus said, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ Let’s stop trying to choose the political leaders who we believe are the most godly because, in reality, only God knows people’s hearts. You and I don’t, and we are all sinners,” Falwell contended.

He acknowledged that some disagree with his endorsement of Trump.

“It is sad to see Christians attacking other Christians because they don’t support the same candidate or the candidate who they believe is the most righteous,” Falwell stated.

He pointed to King David in his reasoning, asserting that God still used him as a leader despite his sin.

“God called King David a man after God’s own heart even though he was an adulterer and a murderer,” Falwell said. “You have to choose the leader that would make the best king or president and not necessarily someone who would be a good pastor. We’re not voting for pastor-in-chief.”

In writing for the National Review on Monday, attorney David French found Falwell’s comparison to be faulty, noting that God punished David for his sin, and the nation suffered as a result.

“To mention King David in the same breath as Donald Trump is to insult our theological intelligence,” he stated. “Yes, David did terrible things—among them, committing adultery and sending his mistress’s husband to die in war—but God imposed terrible punishment—a punishment that cost David his son and ultimately plunged his nation into civil war.”

“And while God forgave David—as He forgives us today—He did not spare David from the cost of disobedience,” French continued. “Ultimately, David’s story is a story of both the awful consequences of sin and God’s mercy in response to true repentance.”

He said that the same will happen if America elects a leader living in open rebellion against God.

“Trump will bring us sin without repentance and consequence without the mercy,” French opined.

“Trump’s evangelical cheerleaders aren’t leading a flock—they’re following the mob,” he declared, expressing dismay at Falwell and others. “And as they follow the mob, they engage in ever-more bizarre theological and intellectual gymnastics to justify the unjustifiable.”

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RoburtMcDunn

This is why the world thinks Christians are morons – thank you very much, Mr, Falwell.

Paige Turner

This and a few other things. Your avatar isn’t helping either.

RoburtMcDunn

Yes, it is wrong for Christians to have fun – please accept my apologies.

Paige Turner

I think Jerry Falwell is doing a great job and your avatar is a perfect representation. Church attendance numbers are dropping dramatically and the religiously unaffiliated is the largest growth area of religion. Its all very self evident.

RoburtMcDunn

He’s misinterpreting the Bible, so he’s doing a poor job. Glossing over Trump’s sins isn’t doing him any favors.

Paige Turner

None of its working. Its too late. The damage is done.

Douglas Belardi

A Personal Note

It appears the vast majority of Americans are either apathetic and ignorant of the world around them or are perfectly willing candidate’s whose lives are totally at odds with even a Judeo-Christian ethos or worldview let alone exhibit any fruit of a genuine Christian conversion

I cannot vote for such a candidate.

Where are those who stand on Biblical Christian principles above all today?

The Bible clearly teaches we are to select as our leaders, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe

Exodus 18:19-23 English Standard Version (ESV)

19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon rejected voting for “the lesser of two evils”

Early in his career (he was but 22 years old), he preached this to his congregation:

Let us whenever we shall have the opportunity of using the right of voting, use it as in the sight of Almighty God, knowing that for everything we shall be brought into account, and for that amongst the rest, seeing that we are entrusted with it.

And let us remember that we are our own governors, to a great degree, and that if at the next election we should choose wrong governors we shall have nobody to blame but ourselves, however wrongly they may afterwards act, unless we exercise all prudence and prayer to Almighty God to direct our hearts to a right choice in this matter.

In sum, the issue here is accountability for our voting actions. Spurgeon would have us realize that accountability both in the next life and here in the world—in living with the consequences.

If there are any political lessons we may learn from Spurgeon, perhaps they are these: Christians must vote. Spurgeon believed voting was a God-given duty for the Christian. He wrote, “We are now called upon to exercise one of the privileges and duties which go with liberty, let no man be neglectful in it. Every God fearing man should give his vote with as much devotion as he prays.” For Spurgeon, whose personal books on politics can be read in The Spurgeon Library, the option not to vote was not an option. Vote on moral and biblical principles, not on partisan allegiances. Though Spurgeon sided with liberal politician William Gladstone to such a degree that many dubbed them “the two prime ministers,” Spurgeon voted against Gladstone when his conscience required him to do so (i.e., the vote for the Home Rule Bill of 1886). Spurgeon voted instead “as unto the Lord.” He wrote, “Do not give yourselves up to party spirit. It is a pity when a man cares only for politics, when the one grand thing he lives for is to return a Liberal for Parliament, or to get in a Radical, or to lift a Tory to the top of the poll. To live for a political party is unworthy of a man who professes to be a Christian.” Fidelity to Scripture must always undergird a Christian’s political activism

Spurgeon also wrote “compromises made in the name of short-term gains are nothing more than “new-made graves.” In short, with such near-sighted goals, we are waxing merry with evil company, and digging our own political graveyard.”

If we are to survive, we must immediately reject all short term political fixes and the compromises toward “some lesser evil” for which they beg. Such decisions do not befit the Christian, do not exemplify the Christian’s most faithful judgment and stand for principle, do not glorify Christ, and they lead to God’s judgment in society. Those interested in the Savior of Society will shun that sham just as Spurgeon has shown us here.

Stonewall Jackson said “Duty is ours, consequences are God’s.”

I am not responsible before God for how other people vote. I will be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ for how I vote. I must vote for the candidate who will uphold Biblical principles and Constitutional government, regardless of that candidate’s perceived “chance” of winning. As Christians, we do not believe in chance. I believe as did Patrick Henry that “there is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations…” I would be far more comfortable before God having voted for no one, rather than simply picking the lesser of two reprobates just so I could say “I voted.”

As for a vote for a third party being a “wasted vote,” the only wasted vote is a vote for a candidate who tells you before you even go to the polls that he is going to violate the Constitution and the Bible.

That speaks of pragmatism over principle.

Where are those who stand on Biblical Christian principles above all today?

Emmanuel

David was hand selected by God for a greater thing- Jesus. Sorry pastor but your friend Trump, not even close.

Josey

“It is sad to see Christians attacking other Christians because they don’t support the same candidate or the candidate who they believe is the most righteous,” Falwell stated.

This I do agree with, we should not be attacking anyone for that is not the fruit of the Holy Spirit and I believe who a person votes for is between them and God, no one else. jmho.

He pointed to King David in his reasoning, asserting that God still used him as a leader despite his sin. “God called King David a man after God’s own heart even though he was an adulterer and a murderer,” Falwell said. “You have to choose the leader that would make the best king or president and not necessarily someone who would be a good pastor. We’re not voting for pastor-in-chief.”

The issue I have with Mr. Falwell’s reasoning concerning King David, David was repentant and accepted with humility his punishment and the consequences for his sin, he paid dearly for his sin and so did Israel. David was a man after God’s own heart because of humility, he submitted to God’s authority by not excusing his sin or claiming he didn’t sin and King David certainty would not have condoned same sex marriage, David killed everything in certain cities even animals because of sodomy, idol worship and the Nephilim that were present as God commanded him to do so. All Mr. Falwell has to do is read the psalms David wrote to see his character and there is a huge difference between David and Trump. Mr. Falwell is also doing wrong by letting Trump think he is a Christian w/out repentance, that is just wrong. Falwell must not read his Bible to claim such things or he is a carnal Christian or a fake one, only God knows and I won’t judge his heart but I can judge his statements as being in error and not in line with God’s word. If he truly loved Trump seems to me he would love him enough to tell him that he needs to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as His Savior and follow him.

Paige Turner

Exactly.

What?

Steven

I think the scary part is that he’s president of a large Christian University. Talk about obfuscating Christian theology.

Becky

Giving alms isn’t how we know who is or isn’t a Christian and Christ made it clear when he said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” (Matthew 7:11). When Christ talked about, “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16), he wasn’t referring to the good deeds that Falwell keeps referring to…that’s something entirely different. Helping the poor, hungry, prisoners, sick, foreigners, etc., are deeds that we were commanded to do as his followers and we were told not to declare them (Matthew 6:1-4). In Matthew 7, Christ is referring to false prophets…you will know them by their fruits. Does the individual speak according to God’s word/commandments, or against it? Does the individual walk according to God’s word/commandments, or against it?

TheKingOfRhye

“What heralds itself as the world’s largest Christian university”? Slyly suggesting Liberty University is not really a “true” Christian university?

jael2

Congratulations Jerry Jr. you have just received the Laodicean Church of America Award:
“Everyone Love a Gimmick”
Everyone loves a gimmick, the gospel will not do
Our ears need tickled, we need a laugh, believe me it is true
God’s Word is irrelevant in this modern day of “grace”
It’s become outdated and psychology we’ve replaced
Those messages of hell fire and damnation of the lost
With warm and fuzzy funny tales that never count the cost
The cross is just a symbol we wear around our neck
We love the shining silver one, but the rugged one reject
We revel in our gimmicks, the food, the fun, the play
Our “self-esteem” cannot accept, that there is a judgment day
So let the fun continue, that is our hope and trust
Our flesh needs entertaining, and the gimmicks are a must

blakbass

LOL! right on point!

blakbass

Elton John?? The life long sodomite?? Great entetainment! Mr. Trump does not have faith in Yashua the Nazarene.

blakbass

He is perfect to take the reigns of the Beast.

Gena B

David had a few skeletons….so maybe Trump is a little like him. Trump sure ‘knows how to win friends and influence people’ Elton John? too funny

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